C11111 Experimental Design and Analysis 1(Last Updated:08 April 2015)

Year 11/12

Target Students: The course is designed for students in the School of Biology but not restricted to them. Available to JYA/Erasmus students.

Taught Semesters:

Semester

Assessment

Autumn

Assessed by end of Autumn Semester

Prerequisites: None.

Corequisites: None.

Summary of Content: Good science requires good experimental design and careful analysis of results. The aim of this module is to provide you with the basic tools you will need to plan your own scientific investigations, and to critically evaluate the work of others. We will examine some simple but fundamental ideas that underpin the way that biologists plan, conduct and interpret observations and experiments. We will pay particular attention to the use of statistics to analyse biological data, and we will explore the usefulness and limitations of a number of commonly used statistical tests. In the practical component of the module, you will learn how to implement these tests yourself using a standard computer package (SPSS).
Module Web Links:

Activities may take place every teaching week of the Semester or only in specified weeks. It is usually specified above if an activity only takes place in some weeks of a Semester

Method of Assessment:

Assessment Type

Weight

Requirements

Exam 1

50

1 hour 30 minute exam

Coursework 1

50

Group work requiring the collection, analysis, and presentation of data collected over the course

Convenor:
Dr T Reader

Education Aims: To familiarise students with the application of the "scientific method" in biology, focusing on the formulation and testing of hypotheses.
To teach students good practice in experimental design.
To provide a basic outline of all aspects of data handling, analysis, interpretation and description.
To familiarise students with common statistical tests and a standard computer statistics package.
To familiarise students with computer statistical test outputs, and show how to interpret these outputs.
To provide students with a workbook that will be useful to them in future practical exercises.